Bunkum Backpackers : Glasgow

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I’ve dug up a bit out of an old travel journal.

Scored a nice room in a cosy hostel, up the top of a sturdy old fashioned staircase, on top of a hill, in the west end of Glasgow (supposedly the west end used to be the rich part of town cause the toffs wanted to live ‘up wind,’ from the stink of industry, and the poor.) These days no one can afford the huge stone apartments, and most of the buildings have been re-purposed for tourist accommodation, or are owned by the university.

My room has a radio, heater, and even a few pot plants I can water.
Most of my worldly needs have been satisfied. I have found comfortable lodgings filled with inoffensive transients, a local library nearby providing free internet, and a new city to explore.
During the day I seek out the excellent galleries, encouraged by the councils ‘free entry’ policy.
There is also the Gothic drenched Necropolis, which like most urban cemeteries, is a quiet zone completely surrounded by city and industry.  One day when I was ‘on the lurk,’ I was surprised by a doe springing out from behind a mausoleum, which bounded off amongst the towering head stones.
While wondering around town I enjoy peering up at the interesting architecture, some of which was designed by Glasgow’s famous son, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Discovering his, and his wife’s legacy is proving to be quite inspirational.

Glasgow nights are enlivened with plenty of live music, and the many fish-and-chippies.
Despite the almost puritanical regime with which our hosts Jim and Jean direct the business of the hostel, there is still plenty of action lurking in the rooms and halls. One of the guys in my room is pursuing an illicit relationship with one of Jim’s daughters.
It’s the classic story of poor failed academic who slings pizzas to cover the rent, falling for the daughter of the ‘landed’ self made man. He and she struck it up when the two daughters were running the hostel while the old folks were off cruising around Europe.

Mum and dad are back, so now there’s a bit o skulking around the halls going on.
Sometimes groups of British folk ‘book in’ for a night or two, to attend a football match, or use a room as a base for the raucous ‘hens night,’ safe from the home town gossip.

Web Site...

Bunkum,
26 Hillhead Street,
Glasgow G12 8PY
Telephone: 0141 581 4481
Fax: 0141 581 6258
Email: BunkumGlasgow@hotmail.com







LINKS
Tram:
Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Chris Coleman and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Rose:
Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Thomas Nugent and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

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